Next stop: Gaza

Around 10 pm Friday, Ship to Gaza’s trawler Marianne of Gothenburg left the port of Messina at the east coast of Sicilia and sailed out on to the Ionian sea through the strait of Messina.

During the coming week Marianne will meet up with the other boats who are part of Freedom Flottila III. Together they will try to break the illegal blockade on Gaza through a peaceful non-violent action. The short stop in Messina was an intensive one with meetings with peace activists and a press conference at the city hall with the mayor of Messina, the famous corruption fighter enemy Renato Accorinti.

On board at Marianne, to participate in this action, you will find:

• The Swedish journalist, author and social critic Kajsa Ekis Ekman
• The Swedish-Israeli composer and activist Dror Feiler
• The Canadanian scholar and activist Robert “Bob” Lovelace, a veteran within movements in support of the Indigenous peoples’ rights
• The Spanish Member of the European Parliament Ana Maria Miranda Paza (Bloque Nacionalista Galego)
• Professor Gerd von der Lippe norwegian sport sociologist and former athletics stare.

The following journalists will be attending:

• The Russian journalist Nadia Kevorkova
• A New Zealand team from Maoria Television, consisting of the reporter Ruwani Perera and the cameraman Jacob Bryant